The NCIS Alphabet
by Leonora Chris
Summary: Collection of different NCIS one shots according to the alphabet. — Chapter 6: Fine (is a four letter word)
1. Ants

_**— The story and any possible original characters are mine. NCIS, its own characters and canon aren't.**_ _ **—**_

 **Just a reminder: The one shots have nothing to do with one another. Some might be AU, some more with the canon, and some episode tags.  
**

 _ **Leo**_

* * *

The hot summer heat hit his face almost as soon as he stepped outside and immediately worry set in. Without a second thought, Gibbs rushed back indoors, grabbed the small hat hanging from the hook by the front door and ran back outside. He let out audible sight of relief when he found his son kneeling next to the fence and relatively alright, albeit there was a slight flush on the little boy's cheeks.

Crouching down next to the child, he carefully put the hat over the soft hair lightened by the sun. "What are you doing, buddy?"

Tony looked forlorn. "I stepped on one of the anties," he whispered and his lower lip started to wobble. "Now it's d-dead." His breath hitched as he pointed at something on the ground only vaguely resembling the ant it used to be. Long trail of other ants kept moving as they always do. While they watched, the ants carried their dead away.

"Anties, huh?" Gibbs had to bite his tongue to not show his amusement. It helped when he saw his child close to start sobbing his little heart out. His _big_ little heart. "I'm sure you didn't mean to. It was an accident and we all have stepped on 'anties'," Gibbs had to swallow down his amusement again, "and that's just the way things are."

"I don't like it..."

Gibbs took the small boy into his arms and started walking away. Ants or 'anties', he didn't want to keep his boy thinking about something that broke his heart. Of course it was going to happen sooner or later anyway, that's just life, but as long as Gibbs could prolong such moments, he would do it. "I'm afraid that's a hard lesson you are going to learn as you grow older. Life is unfair like that and bad things happen and we just need to learn from those things and move on."

"Daddy..."

"Yeah, buddy?" Gibbs felt his heart swell each and every time he was called 'daddy'. He already feared that moment when his little boy would decide that he was 'too old' to call his dad 'daddy'. Well, better enjoy it while he still could. So if he now held his son a little tighter in his arms, he hoped the boy wouldn't mind as he sometimes started squirming to get down so he could walk, or run, on his own two little feet. It was quite impressive just how much energy there was packed in such a small little thing.

"Do anties get to go to heaven?"

"Uh..."

 **_The End_ **


	2. Betrothed

"I have a what now?" Tony asked weakly, while his right hand was searching for the wall behind his back. Finding it, he leaned heavily against it. "That's the old ways and I'm hardly fit for some—"

"Anthony," his lawyer—slash advisor slash traitor—spoke patiently, "this was decided long before you were even born. Unfortunately there wasn't any suitable females born until later."

"You mean that I don't get a say what I do with my own life now? Again."

The man shook his head. "Of course you do, but don't dismiss this before even meeting her. When it's done, once you've married her, you will receive your inheritance and since your cousin is childless, you and your children will be next in line for the title."

Tony visibly flinched this time. "I don't need any inheritance nor a title."

"Anthony... Don't dismiss this before even—"

"Fine. I'll think about it. I'll meet this woman. I'll meet her and _then_ give my final answer."

"Very well. I will arrange the meeting and contact you again." The man hesitated and some of his stoic expression vanished. "Do try to stay alive and unharmed until that meeting. Your bloodline is already too close to dying out as it is."

"Right. Because of the bloodline. I'm only one half of that said bloodline." The half Italian raised his eyebrow and the other man looked away, looking almost embarrassed for nearly admitting to actually personally caring about the safety and well being of his client.

"It would do me no good to lose one of my biggest sources of income."

"Of course." Tony chuckled. Shaking his head, he released the elevator where he had dragged his lawyer as soon as he showed up at his work and before the man could reveal anything he didn't wish for his team to find out. Like, having a fiancée. Arranged marriage before he was even born. How old fashioned and at his age.

When the elevator doors opened, Tony stepped outside, but his lawyer remained inside as he left to arrange the 'first date' between Tony and this mystery woman.

"What did he want?" Gibbs demanded to know as soon as Tony sat down behind his desk. McGee and Ziva looked far too curious for their own good.

"Nothing important," Tony dismissed it. "The usual lawyer stuff. Someone died, I'm not inheriting anything and blah blah blah. You know. The usual. I don't know why I have to meet my lawyer every time just to be told that nope, nothing for you, pal. Sorry."

Gibbs didn't look like he believed him, but at least he let it go for now. "Lawyers. There's a reason we don't like them."

"Right," Tony muttered and deny as he did it, his mind kept going back toward the fiancée he had never even met, much less heard of. At least he wasn't already taken because wouldn't _that_ be awkward situation... He was only going to meet her to keep his lawyer and family happy _ish_. It wasn't like he was going to actually marry her or anything. No way Jose.

 **_The End_ **


	3. Cryptic

The message arrived in a small box; small enough to fit the palm of his hand. There was no message with the box itself and after the case of the plague filled letter, Gibbs was understandably wary and not in a hurry trying to open the box. Not only that, but the box had been left in the basement, hidden away with his bourbon. The box looked sleek and had no visible places where it could be opened. It looked rather high tech even to Gibbs' untrained eyes. For a moment he thought about getting fingerprints from it, but by then it was already full of his own fingerprints and something told him there would be no other fingerprints found.

Feeling frustrated when he couldn't figure out how to open the accursed thing, Gibbs kept turning it over impatiently and running his fingers over the surface in case he could feel the place where it would open, even if he couldn't see it. Just as he was giving up, one of his fingers brushed over the area that felt slightly less smooth and he saw a flash of green light—in the shape of his fingerprint—appear from somewhere underneath the box's surface and he heard a sound as it finally opened.

Shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the whole thing, Gibbs finally saw what was hidden inside it. A small piece of paper. All this for a single piece of paper? The writing on it was so small he was forced to fetch his glasses and wear them. The note was cryptic and didn't answer the biggest questions that he had,

 **_' Boss, I know by now you must have figured out something isn't quite right._ **  
**_I can only imagine what reasons Vance gave you for why he wouldn't bring me back._ **  
**_I can't tell you anything—you don't need to know—but I trust that I don't have to._ **  
**_If anyone asks, you included, I'm stuck and bored out of my mind as the Agent Afloat._ **  
**_I'll be fine. Don't look too deep or I won't be._ **

**_P.S. Want to see something neat? Take this letter and put it in a glass of water._ **  
**_Pretty cool, right?_ **

**_P.P.S. I kind of shouldn't have taken this box nor contacted you,_ **  
**_so I set it to self-destruct fifteen minutes after you opened it._ **  
**_Throw it in the backyard and you should be fine.'_ **

Gibbs read the letter over several times. Shaking his head, he only hesitated for a moment before going in the kitchen and filling a glass with water. Putting the letter in, he stared as it dissolved in a matter of few seconds and not leaving a trace of it behind. With a small twitch of his lips, he swore to keep a close eye on Vance and make the man's life a living hell for whatever it was that he had done to his Agent. "Stay safe, Tony... You don't have my permission to die."

Suddenly he heard a high pitched warning signal and he cursed, remembering the last warning on the note. Cursing DiNozzo, Gibbs quickly grabbed the box and opening the kitchen window, he threw it outside just in time to see it explode into fine powdered dust.

"You better come home soon, DiNozzo. You have many head slaps coming..."

 **_The End_ **


	4. Drowning

The air wouldn't come; it was out of his reach and his lungs were on fire. It didn't... He couldn't... God, please... Where was the air..? Why couldn't he breathe..? He looked down at the two, Gibbs and that blonde girl. Maddie. Right... He just gave up his air for them... From one to two, or two plus one since he still needed that same air for himself. Somehow the math didn't make much sense to him right then so he gave up trying.

Tony stood up slowly. His feet were shaky and he felt dizzy and floaty. There were black spots everywhere in front of him, like dark fireflies. He closed his eyes for a moment, but it was just as another strong wave of dizziness came and he stumbled.

 _Oh, this can't be good._

He was only distantly aware that he was falling and that he couldn't breathe again. When he tried, his lungs were filled with that same cold water now surrounding him. He should probably start swimming up, but he was too tired and all out of any will to keep forcing his body to do the impossible. He would rest for a moment, then he would try again. Just a moment...

Outside the dark waters and somewhere above him there were lights and colors, kind of. Maybe some sounds too, but there were no sounds in his new ice cold kingdom. He was feeling numb. Good. Numb was good. Much better than the pain and agony from before. He was probably too calm.

There was movement in the water and Tony realized something bigger than small fish was coming straight at him and he even sort of saw a shape of that something getting closer. A shark? Were there any sharks in there? He couldn't remember. Oh well, it was the natural circle of life. He ate fish and now some big fish would eat him.

 _Yippee... I just bought this shirt... and my Gucci shoes._

Something touched his face and then he was pulled up, up and up...

Next thing he was aware of, he was lying on his back somewhere and there was no water surrounding him anymore. His eyes were probably still open because he could kind of see some odd shapes and colors, moving constantly around him. The sounds were muted and not very clear to his ears.

 _Am I dead?_

"No... Nonono... No, you don't..!" someone was yelling at him.

It was the strangest thing. He was aware that he wasn't breathing, was probably unconscious and yet he was aware of what was happening. Some of it anyway. Then he felt the most uncomfortable sensation against his lips.

 _Ouch... Whisker burn, boss... Would you mind?_

"Tony..!" There was desperation in Gibbs' voice as he or someone else was now pressing at his chest. Could it still hurt when you were dead? "Please... Don't do this... Tony..."

Tony knew he should probably fight more, but he was just too tired and he saw how everything was starting to fade into white. Into nothing. He no longer felt pain. He was wrapped into a warm feeling of nothingness and he kinda liked that feeling as opposed to all the previous. The lips were on his again, which he could barely even feel anymore, and suddenly against his wishes Tony's eyes flashed wide open and he started coughing out that filthy water and once again he tried to get some air into his burning lungs.

 _God, it hurts so much..! Please...  
_

"That's it, Tony... Attaboy... You can do it..." Gibbs sounded weak and breathless and maybe he was after giving back the air, which Tony first gave to him. Another hand, which Tony was pretty sure couldn't be the man's, was holding his hand. It was too slender and smooth to be the boss' hand, just to start with.

 _God, it really hurts... No more... Please... No more...  
_

Something was hitting against his back after Tony was turned on his side and he kept vomiting out water while simultaneously trying to breathe.

"Jethro, you need to move away so that they can work on him and you need to let them help you as well. At least sit down before you pass out. I do not like the way you look. The color of your skin looks rather alarming."

 _Ducky_.

"I'm going... with him."

 _Ah, boss... Stubborn ass... Just let me go and take care of yourself and that girl... I'll be fine._

"Jethro, there is not enough room in— Ah, there it is. The other ambulance. Finally. Now if you would— Jethro!"

 _Hmm? What did the boss do this time?_

He was still too out of it to be fully aware of his surroundings, but Tony realized he was now probably inside the ambulance and someone was holding his hand again. No longer that slender girly hand from before.

"You'll be fine, DiNozzo... You listening..?"

Green met blue and Tony quirked a tired smile behind the thing giving him air, which still wasn't quite enough.

"Yeah... I did a runner," Gibbs muttered gruffly as he leaned heavily against the stretcher, ignoring the other people there who were either trying to get him to move out of the way or take care of him as well. "Have to make sure," he coughed, as if for a reminder to himself that he too nearly drowned, "you're being taken care... properly."

Tony squeezed his eyes closed and then he felt soft breath against his ear.

"Thank you for... coming after me and..." Gibbs hesitated. "Thank you for not dying on me... but if you _ever_ do that again..."

Green met blue again and Tony sighed.

"Don't you dare do that again..."

 **_The End_ **


	5. Escape

"Well this sucks," Tony muttered as he pulled at his restraints. The ropes had burned red marks all around his wrists by now, but he'd much rather break his hands instead of waiting for what was going to happen if he didn't escape.

Of course it would be a woman who got him into this mess. That wasn't the embarrassing part since he knew women could be much more dangerous than men, given that many were still willing to give the benefit of the doubt when it came to a pretty woman batting at her long lashes and looking all sweet and harmless when behind her back there could be anything from a baseball bat to a poison.

The embarrassing part was that the woman who got him into this mess was an old lady. Really, an old lady who could easily be in her nineties for all he knew. She was frail and smelled of freshly made bread. She kind of reminded him of his nonna, until he got his head bashed in by her and he found out she's more like the witch from Hansel and Gretel; big oven and everything. He was never again going to follow kind looking old ladies into their basements. No matter what 'something for being so helpful' they had there for him. He would also probably never again eat any bread, knowing what kind of meat filling her bread had... Who did he piss off to end up with a target mark on his head for a modern day cannibal?

The burning pain around his wrists was getting worse as Tony kept trying to get the ropes open. He knew from the past victims that his time was running out by the time it was dark so he only had few hours to go, unless she decided to return early and keep him company.

The ropes finally snapped open and he could almost kiss Gibbs for having installed rule nine into him. It was one of the few actually useful rules. "Finally. Thank God. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

He stood up and eyed the small basement. He was free and yet he wasn't. Now what? Trying the door, he already had known it wouldn't bulge. It was locked and firm. No amount of kicking and pushing would help. Not without super human strength. Looking around, Tony saw the window. Since he was in a basement, of course it was small, but it looked like he just might fit through it. Dare he try it? Hearing some distant noise outside the dusty old room, he knew it was either squeeze his way out or be made into a stuffed bread.

Cracking his joints, Tony saw an old metal bucket and put it upside down under the window to use as a stool. Time for another miracle. If all went well, he'd be out before Gibbs even realized he'd been kidnapped. All he had to do was reach and open the window and then wiggle his way out into freedom. Easy peasy.

Until...

"Aw, crap. Really?"

The idea had been good in theory and he almost succeeded. At least there was no one to see his shame.

"Well this sucks."

How did it happen? He wouldn't know. You'd think that if he had to get stuck it would be his shoulders and not his ass. Something was holding him there and no amount of pulling and pushing helped. Did the window shrink or what? And if he said so himself, his ass was just fine. The chicks digged it. He digged it. So why did this happen?

He was still cursing his luck and the too small window when suddenly a shadow landed over him. He stopped struggling and looked up.

"DiNozzo?" It was Gibbs. Of course it had to be Gibbs. He was standing there while McGee and Ziva were taking the old cannibal grandma in the car.

"Hi, boss. Fancy meeting you here," Tony answered weakly. At least the boss wasn't laughing. No. No, wait. There it was. That curl of the one corner of the man's lips. He was probably dying of laughter inside.

"You look like you could use some help."

"Yeah... So, " Tony coughed, "any idea why she targeted me?" he asked, trying desperately to move the attention away from his unfortunate situation while trying to wiggle himself free.

Gibbs was full on chuckling then. "Apparently she thought you looked delicious."

Tony groaned. He was so going on a diet after this.

 _**The End** _


	6. Fine

_Fine is a four letter word._

He was fine. He'd lost many things in his life and he was neither the first nor last person suffering. He'd lost his mother at a much too young age and never really had his parents there in the first place, but for a small boy who had adored her desperately, it had been the first sign of the things to come and what his life would be.

He lost his feeling of safety the first time his father started leaving him behind in the strangest places; hotels, streets, around people he didn't know. Being forgotten.

He'd never had a father in the first place since the man was never there as such, but when he lost the man—legally—at the age of twelve, he didn't think he'd ever survive the deep hurt and the desperate situation of having to survive on his own. He had to build his life from nothing, without help, and carve out his own way through the harsh world.

When he thought he'd found his place and that everything would finally work out, he lost his chance again in the form of a broken leg. He learned to despise hospitals and doctors for the second time in his life when he was recovering and trying to stay positive. His friends and teammates visited him then and tried to keep his spirits up, but he knew better and it didn't take long to lose some of those friends once they no longer moved in the same circles, talked about all the same things, same plans and interests.

He would never forget that young girl he couldn't save from the burning building, her screams that cut through his very soul and the brother whose pain became his to share throughout his life like some kind of penance for his failure. In the end it was perhaps one of the things to lead him toward his fate.

He finally found his way again and his curse had become a blessing in disguise; he became a cop and had never regretted that choice. Most of the time. There was the hazing of course, many times, but he'd gotten long used to it by then and got used to it once again, brutal as it was at times, making him move elsewhere after that one time when it got too far. There were times he got hurt doing his job, but it all worked out in the end. He lost his first victim during a case and could never forget that face even now. He lost his first partner and hadn't been quite prepared for it, but at least he'd been more prepared for it when he lost other partners. Perhaps he was cursed. He had to kill a man for the first time and it killed something in him also, but he'd come to terms with that loss, understanding that it was simply his part of growing up and becoming a man. By sacrificing himself, he could save others.

He thought he found his true place by the time Gibbs showed up as an unyielding force, which he at the time thought was a good thing. Someone with such a strong will and mind of their own surely could be someone he could lean on and trust. He wouldn't be like all the others who betrayed and left him behind.

Kate arrived and he began to lose Gibbs. McGee arrived and suddenly he lost his intelligence, because the new guy had to feel special enough to be kept around. Kate died and he was still seeing phantom blood on his face sometimes when he looked in the mirror. Ziva arrived, like a strong breath of betrayal that nearly knocked him over each time he saw her sitting behind Kate's desk. Smiling at her was becoming more painful. Ziva arrived and he lost even more of Gibbs, his friendship and everything that had been and almost could've been. He began to lose his place again.

He lost his feeling of safety again, the last of his trust in those he should count on when his partners left him without a backup. By then it had become all too familiar feeling and so reporting it had never even crossed his mind. It was only he and he was fine. Wasn't he?

His father won again, as he always did. For the lost child in him, it had been a cruel slap in the face to have his team side with his abuser. True, he hadn't explained it all in explicit details, but hadn't he given enough hints to read between the lines? For investigators it should've been an easy thing to do. Besides, Gibbs had even more than that, thanks to those late night shared drinks and unmanly drunken confessions.

He began to lose a few more of his old friends, because life happened to them all. It was fine, he still had his team. His job.

Gibbs lost his memory and he might just as well have been dead. He lost Gibbs. Gibbs was gone. Gibbs was back. Gibbs was gone, again. Gibbs was back, again, but he was still gone and for good as he would learn with time. He was pushed aside, much like his things had been moved aside without a second thought and all the while he'd done his works to the best of his ability, alone. Everything alone. But he survived and he was fine even if he'd almost died a few times, now and then. He lost a car, which was a little more than a car to him, but who cared. He lost another car. Maybe he really was cursed. But still he was fine. He'd survived many things worse, like having his lungs ruined for good and having to plan his life around what he could and couldn't handle. Of course those plans never worked, but who counted. He was still fine, even when saving Gibbs and that girl from drowning. Doing the impossible. He was fine, even if that case was another reminder that he'd lost Gibbs' trust, if he had it in the first place.

He still hadn't lost his loyalty. God knows how or why. He was getting tired of holding on to that.

He had been in love three times in his life. Wendy and Jeanne were the easy ones, compared to the third. Wendy was a mistake, but it still hurt to lose her the way he did. Jeanne was much more complicated for obvious reasons, but God knew, he did _ **—**_ had loved her. For a desperate while she'd been his calm in the storm. God knew, he'd loved her, but then he lost her. He always regretted choosing his job. He'd never thought he would ever do something his father would do and choose the business, the job, before those he should've loved. But then, he wondered about the kind of love he'd felt for Jeanne, considering the circumstances.

Then there was _her_ , the complicated, beloved, mess. No other woman had ever been able to ruin him the same way and he'd probably never recover from it. The relationship had been a cliché from the very beginning and everyone around them had been so sure they'd end up together. His sweet Claire. The one who got away, but not before she ripped his heart out and took it with her. He wondered how she was doing in these days.

He was never close with Jenny, but her death felt like a loss either way. Perhaps because it was yet another failure. He was tossed aside again, on the sea, in the sea. It was all the same. He was drowning either way and understood it as his punishment for failing her. He just never understood why it was always only his part to bear the punishment.

There was so much more before, during and after, but thinking became hard. Something wet was sliding down his cheek. Blood, he assumed. When it passed the corner of his lip, he tasted salt. Tony coughed and tried to move again, but he was pinned between the seat and the steering wheel. He couldn't feel his legs, but that didn't necessarily have to mean a thing. Everything was fine. The phone, surprisingly, had survived the crash and was now ringing somewhere under the seat. Relentlessly, much like Gibbs.

Fine was a four letter word, but then, it was just a word. Words, he'd learned, rarely meant anything they were supposed to convey.

 **_The End_ **


End file.
